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Purpose Dietary fats with an abundance of phytonutrients have garnered public attention beyond fatty acids per se. This study was set to investigate the impact of consuming diets with red palm olein (RPOO), extra virgin coconut oil (EVCO) and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO, as a control) on cardiometabolic risk biomarkers and lipid profile. Methods We recruited a total of 156 individuals with central obesity, aged 25–45 years, with waist circumference ≥ 90 cm for men and ≥ 80 cm for women in a parallel single-blind 3-arm randomised controlled trial. The participants consumed isocaloric diets (~ 2400 kcal) enriched with respective test fats (RPOO, EVCO or EVOO) for a 12-week duration. Results The mean of the primary outcome plasma high sensitivity C-reactive protein was statistically similar between the three diets after a 12-week intervention. EVOO resulted in significantly lower mean LDL cholesterol compared with RPOO and EVCO, despite similar effects on LDL and HDL cholesterol subfractions. The RPOO diet group showed elevated mean and -carotenes levels compared with EVCO and EVOO diet groups (P < 0.05), corresponding with the rich carotenoid content in RPOO. Conclusion The three oils, each of which has unique phytonutrient and fatty acid compositions, manifested statistically similar cardiometabolic effects in individuals with central obesity at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases with distinct circulating antioxidant properties.

Purpose: We aim to investigate the postprandial effects of palm olein (PO) and chemically interesterified palm olein (IPO) with different proportions of palmitic acid at the sn-2 position using high oleic sunflower oil (HOS) as control fat on concentrations of gut hormones, glucose homeostasis, satiety, lipid and inflammatory parameters in type 2 diabetic (T2D) subjects. Methods: Using a randomised double-blind crossover design, 21 (men = 6, women = 15) T2D subjects consumed test meals (3.65 MJ) consisting of a high fat muffin (containing 50 g test fats provided as PO, IPO or HOS) and a milkshake. Postprandial changes in gut hormones, glucose homeostasis, satiety, lipid and inflammatory parameters after meals were analysed. Some of the solid fractions of the IPO were removed and thus the fatty acid composition of the PO and IPO was not entirely equal (PO vs IPO: palmitate 39.8 vs 38.7; oleate 43.6 vs 45.1). PO, IPO and HOS contained 9.7, 38.9 and 0.2 g/100 g total fatty acids of palmitic acid at the sn-2 position, respectively. At 37 °C, IPO contained 4.2% SFC whereas PO and HOS were completely melted. Results: Our novel observation shows that the incremental area under curve (iAUC) 0-6 h of plasma GIP concentration was on average 16% lower following IPO meal compared with PO and HOS (P < 0.05) meals. Serum C-peptide concentrations exhibited a significant meal × gender interaction (P = 0.009). No differences between test meals were noted for other measurements. Conclusions: This study shows no adverse effect of interesterification on hormones associated with glucose homeostasis notably GLP-1 in T2D subjects.

The presence of solid fat content (SFC) of vegetable fats at human body temperature (37°C) has been linked to altered fat digestibility and metabolism. In this study, the possibility of reducing the SFC in chemically interesterified palm olein (CIEPO) while maintaining physical properties similar to native palm olein was explored by dry fractionation. Crystallization at 37°C for 155 min produced a CIEPO olein fraction with total fatty acid composition (FAC) broadly resembling that of native palm olein while the high proportion of sn-2 palmitic acid content was maintained at 39.1%. The CIEPO olein fraction has a reduced SFC at 37°C from 8.6 to 4.2%, overall decreased SFC, slip melting point (SMP) at 33°C, a reduced palmitoyl-palmitoyl-palmitoyl (PPP) from 6.0 to 3.7 mol% and lower heating peaks in thermal profile compared with the untreated CIEPO. Both CIEPO olein fraction and palm olein have broadly similar total FAC and SMP below 37°C but very distinguishable sn-2 palmitic acid content. CIEPO olein fraction and native palm olein can be used as effective comparison in human studies because the differences of both fats in PPP content and SFC at 37°C were narrowed.

Previous studies have reported that tocotrienols (T3) possess many distinct properties such as antioxidant, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic, which are beneficial for the improvement of human health. However, there is limited data available on the safety assessment of T3 compared to tocopherols (T). A randomised, double-blinded, cross-over and placebo-controlled human clinical trial was conducted to determine the safety and tolerance of T3 supplementation in 31 subjects with metabolic syndrome. The subjects were supplemented with tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) 200 mg or placebo capsules twice daily for two weeks followed by a post-intervention visit. Results showed that T3 supplementation had no significant adverse effect on the red blood cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC) and platelet counts between TRF (5.10 ± 0.78 × 1012 litre-1, 7.35 ± 1.59 × 109 litre-1, 279.45 ± 73.86 × 109 litre-1, respectively) and placebo interventions (5.13 ± 0.76 × 1012 litre-1, 7.25 ± 1.95 × 109 litre-1, 267.45 ± 68.72 × 109 litre-1, respectively). Measures of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT)) and albumin did not differ between TRF (25.68 ± 10.72 IU litre-1, 38.26 ± 24.74 IU litre-1, 43.61 ± 2.26 g litre-1, respectively) and placebo interventions (27.39 ± 16.44 IU litre-1, 42.23 ± 33.58 IU litre-1, 43.68 ± 2.15 g litre-1, respectively). This study indicated that supplementation with T3 at the dosage of 400 mg per day for 14 days did not induce haematoxicity and hepatotoxicity in subjects with metabolic syndrome.